Tonight's Games

• The outlook was grim, doubts were spreading and criticism was rampant. That seemed to be the state of affairs for the Blackhawks a little more than a week ago. How quickly things can change. The Hawks now are on the cusp of advancing to their second consecutive Western Conference finals by eliminating the rival Vancouver Canucks for the second consecutive year. [ Chicago Sun-Times]

Off-Day Teams

• The Penguins have preached the importance of creating traffic in front of Jaroslav Halak, and their plan worked well enough to earn a 3-2 series advantage. Montreal coach Jacques Martin all but admitted that such goals are somewhat unstoppable. [ Pittsburgh Tribune]

Tonight's Games

• Even though the Bruins are missing Mark Stuart and Dennis Seidenberg from their defense, the bench has stepped up. It's more a reflection on the teamwide depth advantage the Bruins carry over the Flyers and into tonight's Game 3. [ Boston Globe]

• The third period continues to be a sort spot for the Red Wings. Over the past three games, Detroit has been outscored 5-1 and outshot 42-25. "That's not our game plan," insisted Sharks forward Patrick Marleau, "But I think we've been able to get better as the games go on." [ San Jose Mercury News]

Crosby didn't have an impactful Game 6, but without his superstar effort in the previous five, the Penguins might not be looking ahead to another round in these playoffs. Crosby finishes the series with 14 points, tops among all NHLers. He registered five multiple-point games in the series, including a four-point (two goals, two assists) night in Pittsburgh's momentum-grabbing 7-4 win in Game 4. Crosby's best effort, however, was in Game 2, when he netted a goal and an assist, and made a goal-line save to help preserve a 2-1 victory.

On Target

• Wes Goldstein: Pittsburgh in 7: In cruise control all season, Pens look ready to press the pedal to the metal. • Erin Brown: Pittsburgh in 6: The Penguins are Red Wings-lite: their Cup-winning experience will carry them.

Off the Mark

• Mike Hurcomb: Ottawa in 6: The Senators' balance helps them pull first-round upset. • Dennis Dodd: Ottawa in 6: Marc-Andre Fleury is not the same as he was the past two seasons.

Dan Bylsma changed the complexion of the Pittsburgh Penguins-Ottawa Senators series with one roster move.

The coach's decision to sit Ruslan Fedotenko in favor of the hulking Mike Rupp sparked the Penguins to play a more physical contest Friday night. Pittsburgh not only tied the series with a 2-1 win, but fixed a number of problem areas from Game 1 in the process.

Pittsburgh, which dished out 38 hits against Ottawa on Wednesday, registered 52 in Game 2. Each Penguin delivered at least one check. Defenseman Brooks Orpik led the team with nine. Even Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin joined in, combining for five.

Pittsburgh limited the Senators to 20 shots by keeping the Senators engaged in tougher play.

Despite allowing a goal 18 seconds into the game, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury benefitted from the limited workload and played with more confidence as the game progressed.

The raised intensity, however, resulted in a shortened Penguins bench. Ottawa's Andy Sutton delivered a clean, but devastating hit to Pittsburgh's Jordan Leopold near the end of the first period. Leopold, who was motionless on the ice for a few moments, left under his own power and did not return.

Morris played a role in each of Phoenix's goals, assisting on the first two before chipping in the go-ahead goal. In addition to being the first postseason goal of the defenseman's career, it held up as the game-winner, giving the Coyotes their first home playoff win in 10 years.

Like the Coyotes, Boucher also snapped a postseason winless streak, dating back to 2000. The Flyers netminder stopped 23 shots, and carried a shutout into the third period. That was nixed by New Jersey's Travis Zajac with less than three minutes to play, but Boucher held on for the victory.

Bryzgalov has been nothing short of stellar during the regular season, and that appears to be the same during the playoffs. The goalie stopped 18 of 20 shots in the first period and kept the Coyotes return to the playoffs from turning into a debacle.

First he shows up late to the game, missing the team meeting, then goes out and allows five goals on 26 shots. Although Fleury was the victim of one bad bounce off the glass, he looked out of place on other goals, and struggled to follow the puck for most of the night.